Green firm installs solar systems on Indian rail

A renewable energy company has installed eight solar systems for a railway line in Delhi, India. The Badarpur-Faridabad Metro Line is claimed to be the first in the Delhi Metro […]

A renewable energy company has installed eight solar systems for a railway line in Delhi, India.

The Badarpur-Faridabad Metro Line is claimed to be the first in the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) network to integrate solar into the design of the buildings.

They have been built on the roofs of the stations and depot and are expected to avoid 1,700 metric tons of CO2 and generate around 2.5GWh of electricity a year.

That’s the equivalent of taking 363 cars off the road or preventing more than 800 metric tons of coal from being burned.

SunEdison installed the panels and will take over the operation and maintenance.

Pashupathy Gopalan, SunEdison’s President of Asia-Pacific and Sub-Saharan Africa, said: “Millions of people rely on the Delhi Metro each day and by installing SunEdison’s solar system in eight of the metro lines, we are excited these commuters will be able to benefit from a clean and reliable source of electricity.

“These systems took only two months to build and will generate electricity for the metro line for 25 to 30 years with little maintenance cost.”

Last month four agreements were signed to boost the carbon footprint of India’s railways and cut costs.

The World Bank and the Government of India recently signed an agreement for a $43 million (£29m) grant to boost energy efficiency in the country.

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